This application claims priority from German patent application No. DE10143643.2, filed Sep. 5, 2001, incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to a hatchback for an automobile having a supporting frame with a windshield area and a wall area, a windshield mounted on the supporting frame in the windshield area and an outside door panel mounted on the supporting frame in the wall area.
It has long been known that an automotive hatchback designed as a metal-plastic composite structure offers considerable advantages in comparison with a hatchback made entirely of plastic as well as a hatchback made entirely of metal. Thus, with the conventional hatchbacks, both variants are self-supporting structures in a stressed-skin construction which has a considerable weight, and a separate design is required for each individual case.
The known hatchback in a metal-plastic composite structure in question here (WO 98/09833 A1) is characterized by the use of a supporting frame made of an enclosed or open hollow metal section, the inside and outside skins of the hatchback being made of plastic or lightweight metal and mounted on this supporting frame. The windshield is glued to appropriate adhesive surfaces on the supporting frame in the windshield area and covers it, while projecting laterally. The same thing is also true of the outside door panel, which is made of plastic in the wall area.
In addition to the considerable advantage with regard to the weight of the hatchback known from the state of the art as described above, there are also other advantages. Assembly of the outside door panel is independent of its design. The add-on parts may be installed in conclusion because the outside door panel and then the windshield are attached to the supporting frame at the end. Tool and die costs are much lower than is the case with hatchbacks constructed in a stressed-skin construction. The choice of colors is largely flexible because the color is determined to a great extent by the outside door panel. The basic design may be always the same. Finally, it is advantageous that this hatchback can be installed separately on the body of the vehicle at the end.
One problem with the hatchback known from the state of the art, however, is that the outside door panel, like the windshield, must be glued to the supporting frame. This is a disadvantage in the event of damage to the hatchback. In addition, assembly involving gluing is a difficult manufacturing process in view of the small joint widths to be maintained with motor vehicles.
The basic concept of a hatchback described above has already been implemented and improved upon in an advantageous manner (DE 199 38 511 A1). With this hatchback, on which the present invention is based, the supporting frame is provided with an insertion channel that is open toward the outside in the wall area, while the outside door panel has an insertion flange projecting toward the inside with which it is inserted into the insertion channel. In the area of the connecting section, there is a corresponding insertion channel, so that on the whole the outside door panel can be placed on the wall area of the supporting frame.
So far only one automotive hatchback having a stationary windshield has been explained. However, there are also known automotive hatchbacks having a windshield but can itself be lifted separately. This liftable windshield is then secured on the connecting section by means of a fastening element. It can be lifted as needed, i.e., swivelled upward.
Automotive hatchbacks having windshields which can themselves be lifted up are known from the state of the art only in a stressed-skin construction. When the mounting of a liftable windshield which is implemented in a stressed-skin construction is applied to the concept of the supporting frame hatchback (DE 199 38 511 A1), it is necessary to depart from the windshield extending over the supporting frame at the upper edge because the hinges which connect the windshield pivotably are mounted on the supporting frame there. This yields a sealing problem at the upper edge of the windshield and has a negative effect on the field of vision. In fact, only the stressed-skin construction is usually implemented in the case of a hatchback having a windshield which can be opened separately.
The teaching of this invention is based on the problem of providing an automotive hatchback designed according to the lightweight construction principle known from the state of the art with a supporting frame such that this hatchback is equally suitable for use with a stationary windshield and with an openable windshield and has a basic design which is universally suitable for both variants as closely as possible.
The problem presented above is solved by the automotive hatchback according to this invention. According to this invention, it is possible to implement an automotive hatchback which may be equipped with a stationary windshield or with a windshield that can itself be opened up independently. For both variants, the basic design of the hatchback is practically the same, and approximately 90% of the parts of the hatchback are the same for both variants. The basic idea of this invention is that the movable hinge parts of the openable windshield are also mounted by means of the hinge elements on the stationary hinge blocks on which the hatchback is pivotably mounted as a whole. Thus, the hatchback and the openable windshield have one and the same axis of rotation, and this makes it possible for the windshield to completely extend over the full area of the supporting frame even when the windshield is itself openable. No sealing problems occur at the upper edge of the supporting frame. The field of vision of the hatchback in the windshield area is not smaller for a hatchback having an openable windshield than for a hatchback having a stationary windshield.
According to a particularly preferred teaching, the supporting frame is prepared for universal applicability with a stationary or openable windshield due to the fact that the metal section forming the supporting frame has a fastening flange for a windshield gasket for an openable windshield in the area of the windshield and has an adhesive surface for a stationary windshield on the outside.
Furthermore, an especially important embodiment is characterized in that the hinge brackets together with the mounting area for the respective hinge element project upward above the upper edge of the supporting frame. Due to the hinge brackets arranged in this way, the mounting areas of the hinge elements are located above the top edge of the supporting frame and can easily be reached by the movable hinge parts of the windshield which extends beyond or can extend beyond the supporting frame toward the top.
It has already been explained in the state of the art (DE 199 38 511 A1) which forms the starting point that the hinges of the supporting frame are normally mounted on the upper transverse section which may also be reinforced to this end. An alternative has already been proposed inasmuch as the supporting frame is designed with a curved shape at the upper corners, and the hinge brackets are mounted on the supporting frame in the upper lateral areas and with the mounting area for the respective hinge element are in the free zones outside the supporting frame. This variant may also be used expediently with the hatchback according to this invention because then one also has the area here where the movable hinge parts of the windshield may act on the hinge elements when using an openable windshield.
The design of the hatchback according to this invention having a spoiler situated on the upper edge of the supporting frame is particularly important. Such a spoiler is provided in the state of the art (DE 199 38 511 A1) and is mounted completely on the stationary windshield. In the present case, it is advisable for the spoiler to be mounted (preferably only) on the hinge brackets in the case of a stationary windshield, and in the case of the openable windshield to be mounted (preferably only) on the movable hinge parts. As a rule, the spoiler will have an understructure which allows this mounting by welding or preferably by screw connection.
The independent teaching of this invention concerns a hatchback of the design whose fundamentals have already been described and is characterized in that an adapter part which projects at the side is mounted on the supporting frame in the wall area in particular by welding and/or screwing it onto the supporting frame, the adapter part forming a projecting edge for flanging the edge of the outside door panel. This tends to create more of a traditional option for mounting an outside door panel designed as sheet metal, in particular as a sheet of lightweight metal, without having to design any particular profiling in the metal section of the supporting frame. This is expedient in particular when the metal section of the supporting frame is made of steel.